I must say that the trip was quite entertaining. I have never been on a long distance train before, and so my trip at the beginning of March was the first. My only upsets is that I had to leave at 7:30am from Grand Rapids (since there's only one daily train that leaves GRR for Chicago), but I must say it was not really a big deal. Arrived in Chicago on time, spent some time taking in the sights before going to the departure gate. I did stop at the McDonalds inside the station to get lunch, and I was shocked that it was a good $1.00 more than here in West Michigan, but I didn't complain. I was quite surprised by the line at the departure gate however, and I had gotten there a good hour early.
Boarding the train, I was new to the concept of the "assigned seat" but luckily for me I got an outside seat, and the person next to me was going to Albuquerque, so I didn't have to worry about being woken up in the middle of the night. I spent a good deal of time in the observation/lounge car, before returning to my seat for the night. Luckily my seat partner had set herself up elsewhere for the night, so I got to stretch out over both seats. It wasn't the greatest, but for the price I paid I didn't mind, and just the fact that I went to bed in Kansas and woke up in Colorado was a benefit.
There were a couple legs just before Albuquerque I didn't particularly like (one stretch that was 20 miles but took nearly an hour). We stopped in Albuquerque about 15 minutes early, leaving me plenty of time to run my errands before getting to Flagstaff on time.
The only thing I disliked about the train was that it was very dry (circulated air). The trip back (eastward) seemed less friendly than the trip there (westward), but it could be because we were a good hour behind at some points. Nevertheless we managed to make it to Chicago on time.
Boarding the train, I was new to the concept of the "assigned seat" but luckily for me I got an outside seat, and the person next to me was going to Albuquerque, so I didn't have to worry about being woken up in the middle of the night. I spent a good deal of time in the observation/lounge car, before returning to my seat for the night. Luckily my seat partner had set herself up elsewhere for the night, so I got to stretch out over both seats. It wasn't the greatest, but for the price I paid I didn't mind, and just the fact that I went to bed in Kansas and woke up in Colorado was a benefit.
There were a couple legs just before Albuquerque I didn't particularly like (one stretch that was 20 miles but took nearly an hour). We stopped in Albuquerque about 15 minutes early, leaving me plenty of time to run my errands before getting to Flagstaff on time.
The only thing I disliked about the train was that it was very dry (circulated air). The trip back (eastward) seemed less friendly than the trip there (westward), but it could be because we were a good hour behind at some points. Nevertheless we managed to make it to Chicago on time.
